Your Advocate

Q: I would like your opinion and suggestion regarding my family affairs. I am married for about twelve years and I have two sons, one is 6 and the other is 2 years old. Recently my husband has married her women colleague without my consent. After this incident I left my husband and now staying with my parents. My children are with me. I have decided not to go back to my husband and divorce him. I want to know precisely what are the procedure(s) I have to comply to do that and is there any way to convict my husband for the second marriage without my consent? I also want to know who would be the legal guardian of my sons?
Farida Hamid,Green Road, Dhaka.

Your Advocate: I can realize the state of your mind at this critical moment. Fact remains that a sudden turn of events have made you stand face to face with dreadful realities of life and compelled to divert your positive thoughts and concerns into areas which you could never dream of. You are now thinking of divorcing your husband, taking penal actions against him and knowing the legal position as to the guardianship of your sons.

As for your first question, The Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961, section 8 empowers a wife, wishing to exercise the right of divorce delegated to her, to divorce herself in accordance with the procedure laid down in section 7 of the said Ordinance so far as those apply in case of a woman. That means you have to have power of divorce delegated by your husband for taking the privilege of this section. If you do not have the requisite power of divorce you have to file suit for dissolution of marriage in the Family Court.

Let us suppose that you have delegated power to divorce yourself from your husband. In that case you will have to give the Mayor of the Dhaka city corporation a notice in writing expressing in clear terms your having done so and a copy of the same to be served upon or mailed to the address your husband. Within thirty days of the receipt of the notice the Mayor shall constitute an 'Arbitration Council' for examining the possibility of reconciliation between the parties. Subject to reconciliation talak shall take effect on expiration of ninety days from the day on which the notice is delivered to the Mayor. In case the wife is pregnant talak does not take effect until the pregnancy ends.

So far as the penal action against your husband is concerned, he may be prosecuted for taking second wife without permission of the Arbitration Council to be given subject to your consent. Taking second wife without permission of the Arbitration Council is punishable under section 6 (5) of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance,1961 with simple imprisonment which may extend to one year or with fine which may extend to ten thousand Taka or with both.
As for the guardianship, the father is the natural and legal guardian of his children. You, of course, may maintain custody of your sons until they attain 7 years of age with proper right to visitation of their father. If you marry another person you may lose their custody.